Arabia 1856 by Cathead - FINISHED - Scale 1:64 - sidewheel riverboat from the Missouri River, USA

[mbp521]

Eric,

 

Glad to see you back. Excellent work as always.

 

BTW: Your workbench looks a lot like mine. I like it that way

 

-Brian

[Jack12477]

Eric, I see we hail from the same area of NY. I grew up in the Town of Brighton, just over the Rochester City line. As a toddler our house abutted one of the original Erie Canal locks (I490 and I590 merge there now) before we moved into Brighton. Locks 32 and 33 on the Barge Canal were an easy bike ride from home.

 

Love your model. It is coming along nicely.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Jack12477

[druxey]

Gee, Eric, if you were in the neighbourhood you should have let me know and dropped by!

[Cathead]

druxey, believe me, I thought about various people and clubs in the area, but we honestly didn't have a lot of time and wanted to do things of highest interest to us both (and family). Some other visit home when it's just me, it'd be very tempting!

 

Jack, that's neat! My mother now lives just off the canal in Pittsford and routinely walks/bikes the canalpath. When I was there we rode the canal to the river and then downstream most of the way to downtown. Such a great trail network. The canalpath through Wayne County was quite a bit rougher when I was growing up, but more than once our family all biked all the way to the city from out there in the boonies.

 

Brian, my workbench management is to clean up between stages. It gets messier and messier as I progress, then every few weeks I reach a good transition point and decide to clean up and organize things again, starting the cycle over. I like a clean workspace but also don't mind rooting around in messy scrap piles for just what I need. And the bench is shoehorned into our small living room between the couch and bookshelf, so there isn't a lot of room for fancy storage.

[Jack12477]

I am familiar with the canal path, just never had time to walk/ride along it. I still have family in Rochester and Pittsford. We had a family reunion a few years back and chartered one of the canal boats (filled the boat) to take us from Fairport to the river and back thru the locks. Our cousins from Canada, England,  and Ireland were impressed with the canal and its history. We turned around just shy of the river.  My brother traced our Grandfather's family back to Ireland in the 1600s and along the way discovered cousins we didn't know existed both here and across the pond. 

[Cathead]

Happy Thanksgiving to all the American readers (and the rest of you)! I'm grateful to have a community like this that makes this hobby so much richer than toiling away in isolation.

 

I've been quietly working away at planking the port wheel housing.

 

I decided to add the two windows shown in the painting; I don't know whether or not they were really there, but you can see similar features on other vessels. I built frames for these and added backing so they'd fit right into the planking (like a window in a model kit). Since you can't really see behind these, this was an easy way to get them installed.

 

I then hung them from the planking and started planking around them.

 

And here's the fully planked port side.

There's a fair bit of detail to add here, various vertical ribbing and so on, but it'll come later when the model is closer to being complete. Next I'll start planking in the upper surfaces of both wheel housings.

 

Thanks again for being part of this journey, I wouldn't (and likely couldn't) be doing it without you.

 

[FriedClams]

Hello Eric,

 

I’ve been reading your build log from the beginning over a few sessions and just now caught up.  This is a very interesting subject and your model is looking great.  I love the look, history and nostalgia of these old steamboats.  Every time I see an image of one, I can’t help but think of Mark Twain and his wonderful book “Life on the Mississippi”.
 

Your log is both fun and educational.  I look forward to future updates.

 

Gary

[Cathead]

Thanks, Gary! As you might expect for a Missouri-based river history buff, I love Mark Twain. I live about 1.5 hours from Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site, which is really cool. One thing I love about American river history is how different each major river's culture and development were, including steamboat design. Living near the Missouri River, and being married to a scientist who spent years doing research on the morphology of the river, really makes that my primary interest. I wish Twain had spent more time on "my" river, I'd love to have his perspective. Anyway, I appreciate the comment and am glad you're enjoying this project.

[cog]

18 hours ago, Cathead said:

Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site,

Unfortunately not visible for (continental) Europeans due to EC laws, that is to say, I get a big fat "Access denied" based on IP-address

[G.L.]

12 minutes ago, cog said:

Unfortunately not visible for (continental) Europeans due to EC laws, that is to say, I get a big fat "Access denied" based on IP-address

I could open the website without problem.

[cog]

Thanks G.L.

 

Darn, Dutch block? I just changed from ISP, I still have access to the net from my old one, which gives the same result

 

[wefalck]

No problem from my IP address in France ...

[Cathead]

Cog, that's strange. I've run into similar problems every now and then on random websites, where I'll get a notice about security configurations being incorrect so the browser blocks it. My memory says it's usually major government sites (like NASA or NOAA in the US), so I suppose that fits for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. I've found that using a different browser solves the problem, don't know why it happens in the first place.

 

No idea why Missouri would have it in for the Dutch otherwise. Belgium, maybe, after InBev bought Budweiser, but we don't have any beef with the Netherlands that I'm aware of.

[paulsutcliffe]

No problem opening from the UK either?

 

[davyboy]

Opened it no problem here in Switzerland.

 

Dave 

[KeithAug]

On 12/1/2019 at 8:39 AM, cog said:

Unfortunately not visible for (continental) Europeans due to EC laws, that is to say, I get a big fat "Access denied" based on IP-address

UK still subject to EC law - at least for a few weeks, or months, or years, or forever - depending on the vagaries of our wonderful political leaders. Anyway as we can view the site in the UK the EC Law explanation is a bit unusual.

 

Really enjoying the build - such an interesting subject.

Edited December 2, 2019 by KeithAug

[Cathead]

Still plugging away. I filled in the tops of the wheel housings and painted both assemblies:

I started building the frames that will support the hurricane deck out over the stern (the roof of the boiler deck). You can see the beginnings of these in the above photos. These will be really delicate, so I gave some thought to how to make them stronger and easier to assemble. The plan I came up with was to insert small pins into many of the joints, using a small drill bit and leftover brass nails from a kit.

 

Above you can see one such joint, with the pin sticking out at upper right and another pin ready for another joint at upper left. I bent a beam in a full 180° curve to form the deck's stern contour, and attached a central supporting beam:

Here's that beam installed on the model. Each end fits into a pin in the already-installed framing (see next photo down), with a pin into the deck beneath the stern-most support:

More framing. This is now ready for the hurricane deck to go on. I also built the rear staircases between the two decks, using basically the same method I did for the pilot house stairs. These aren't glued in yet, just set in place for appearances.

Another view of the hurricane deck framing and stairs:

You may notice that I included a bit of an upward curve here toward the stern. I think this adds some style and is similar to other boats of the era. Finally, I started cutting thin sheets of wood to form the base of the hurricane deck. As this will be fully covered in simulated tarpaper (like the pilot house and Texas structures), there was no need to plank it.

These aren't attached, just set in place to test the fit. I think I'll use pastels to lightly color the open bottoms of these rather than waste paint (and risk curling the thin sheets).

 

That's where the model stands. Current plan is to work my way forward from here. I started at the stern as I expected it to be simpler, the forward framing will be more complex, so now I have a better idea of the mechanics I want to use.

 

At times this project feels like it'll never end, then I get moments where it seems like it's racing along. Thanks for reading!

 

[druxey]

Definitely coming along and coming along well!

[steamschooner]

I agree , looking really good!

[KeithAug]

Very nice work on the hurricane deck, all very impressive.

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up.  She really looks the part!

 

John

[Cathead]

Got the stern half of the hurricane deck glued down:

 

Edges need some trimming but I'll do that all at once when the whole deck is installed.

 

The larger news is the arrival of a new tool in the Cathead workshop:

That's a Byrnes table saw on the workbench. Technically a Christmas present, but I wanted to make sure all was in order. I did one quick milling of some Eastern Red Cedar scrap I had lying around, making thin planking-scale pieces and veneer strips. It's really pretty in person:

 

I hope I never have to buy model wood again. Living on 40 acres of mostly woodland with an orchard mixed in, I have lots of fun self-harvested stuff to play with, and this will let me mill up quite a bit of stock from my scrapbox. Reusing things and avoiding waste is a big deal for me, so I'm very excited for this development. A Missouri River craft of some sort built with all Missouri wood sounds like a really fun and unique project once Arabia is done.

 

Happy Holidays to all of you. Our big celebration is a solstice party this weekend for a variety of rural friends and neighbors, featuring homemade mead and some good traditional fiddle-tune jamming.

[mbp521]

Eric,

 

Beautiful work on the Arabia, those compound curves on the aft decking look like they were a bit tricky to lay down the wood sheeting. Especially with the delicate structure beneath. She’s really looking good. 

 

I love the the idea of milling your own wood, I have 15 acres of cedar trees myself, along with some other hardwoods (pecan, oak, bois d’arc, mesquite, etc.) spattered about, that I would love to use for future builds. What is your process to cut the wood down to these strips? Just curious, I’d like to do the same instead of just burning what I clear out. 

 

-Brian

[druxey]

Nice progress, Eric! And a very happy solstice celebration to you.

[Cathead]

Brian, short answer, we do the logging ourselves and hire in a portable bandsaw mill for the initial milling. It can handle logs up to 20' long. I have a rough cut list for what I want. The milled pieces are stacked on a concrete pad in our open pole barn to cure. After than they can be shaped just like any lumber using normal tools (table/circular/hand saw). Over the years I've built multiple outbuildings and varius home furniture with 100% on-farm cedar and sold a fair amount of custom-milled lumber to other people for things like barn siding, porches, garden sheds/beds, etc.

 

The strips shown above were milled on the Byrnes saw from a tiny piece of scrap (roughly 3/4" x 2" x 6"). I used the Byrnes to smooth both thin edges, then cut thin veneer sheets from the 3/4" edge, then stacked them and cut them into thinner planking strips. Took just a few minutes. Small-scale work really doesn't take much wood compared to the scale I'm used to working in; I have a lifetime of model-scale cedar just in the scrap piles I haven't burned yet. We normally use cedar scrap as spring firewood for boiling down maple syrup as it burns hot and fast but isn't ideal for indoor firewood due to its high resin content.

 

Druxey, thanks! Looking forward to it.

[Cathead]

So that was strange. I wrote a whole update post, which was then eaten when I tried to post it by some Firewall Error. But when I went back and did a test post it went through. So here's a shorter version because I don't feel like rewriting it all.

 

Bending beams for the forward part of the hurricane deck:

Connected together and installed on the model, using pins at the back:

Adding vertical supports and testing the heat shields that keep the chimneys from burning passengers or setting the boat on fire; these are made from scrap PVC:

Heat shields painted and vertical posts all complete:

View from the bow:

If you look closely, you may be able to tell that this structure is a bit out of alignment; the forward curve is closer to the port side than the starboard. It's fairly obvious from some angles and not at all from others. Redoing would mean starting over on this entire structure and I'm not up for that, so I'm going to do my best to hide it. The finished model will have enough detail and complexity that I think it'll be pretty easy to overlook. This is why I'm not a professional (among other reasons).

 

Happy (soon) New Year to all of you.

Edited December 29, 2019 by Cathead

[mbp521]

Eric,

 

I’m not seeing anything out of alignment here. All I see is a fantastic looking boat taking shape. 

 

Happy New Year to you as well. 

 

-Brian

[mtaylor]

Eric,

Every builder sees the smallest of "problems"... the rest of us usually never do.  Looks great.

[michael mott]

First a Happy New year to you and your family. The model is coming along nicely Eric.

 

Michael

[Cathead]

A bit more progress framing the hurricane deck:

 

I also added the railings protecting the main staircase.

 

If you look closely you can see another goof. I ran two of the longitudinal beams too close to where the chimneys had to be (they aren't installed permanently yet) and had to file a slot on the outboard sides of the chimneys to let them sit where they needed to be. It's going to be essentially invisible when the decking is in place, but it caused some temporary gnashing of teeth.